A spooky, scary, and satisfying horror story.
Two friends combat a zombie invasion in this middle-grade novel.
When Johnny wakes up for school one morning, he assumes it will be a normal day. Sure, he had a creepy dream the night before, but it was nothing that his mother couldn’t fix. The day starts out like any other—he gets on the bus; says hello to Ms. Eisenstein, the driver; and pinches his friend Alex, who is weirdly catatonic. At school, she drops the boys off, and everything is strangely desolate. That’s when Alex and Johnny see it—a grotesque humanoid monster, dripping green goo and searching for human flesh. It even consumes the basketball coach right in front of their eyes. Alex and Johnny find Ms. Eisenstein, who drives them into the woods to escape, but when she crashes the bus, they all think they’re goners. She disappears, and Alex and Johnny must concoct Plan B. Alex is soon taken by a zombie, but not before the boys find out that the monsters can be defeated by fire. Johnny tries to confront the zombie leader, who turns out to be Ms. Eisenstein. She’s plotting to erase the town of humans, but Johnny vows that he won’t let that happen. Can he defeat this plague of zombies and get his friends and family back? Shah’s (Bradley Boogers Slides Down the Nose Cave, 2016, etc.) tale is certainly imaginative, but it is definitely too gruesome for younger readers. With passages describing zombies eating Johnny’s friends and various townspeople, it’s sure to cause a nightmare or two. Luckily, for older kids, the work is a frightening delight. The author paints a wonderfully disgusting image of a zombie assault, and readers (especially horror fans) should enjoy the episodes of Johnny and Alex trying to avoid these subhuman creatures. The one caveat? The book would have been more intriguing if the zombies didn’t speak—they are particularly brainless creatures, and it’s more chilling if they don’t have ulterior motives for consuming a whole town of people. But overall, this spirited novel offers an engaging introduction (or return visit) to the world of horror—just get ready for young readers to start clamoring to watch The Walking Dead.
A spooky, scary, and satisfying horror story.Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-943684-18-2
Page Count: 102
Publisher: 99 Pages or Less Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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